China 20 years ago was a place where cash management was almost impossible. Today it’s different story.
In China, what a difference two decades make… Okay, of course a lot can happen in two decades, but for China, sometimes market reform happens at a glacial pace; so perhaps the reworked cliché works.
Twenty years ago MNCs were trying to figure out how to manage cash in China. Back then, as we wrote in “China: Foreign Currency Controls” (September 5, 1994), Chinese authorities had a tight grip on the renminbi as it tried to keep a lid on speculation. The government required foreign MNCs to maintain local account in non-RMB currency which was to be debited or credited for local transactions. “With the Chinese government eager to prevent outflow of foreign exchange,” we wrote, “MNCs have to work harder and smarter.”
Today it’s a different story as Chinese regulators have sent the RMB abroad to seek its fortune. That’s because a number of financial reforms are rapidly liberalizing the country’s capital account and allowing market forces to play a bigger role in China’s financial system.
Indeed, China now is becoming more of a destination for cash than a place where cash “checked in and never checked out.” As we point out in a recent story on iTreasurer (“Investment Management: To RMB or Not to RMB from Offshore“) , there are a number of options for cash in China, including a variety of RMB money funds. In fact, take the word “China” out of the investment and most people wouldn’t think twice about putting money there, says Dianna Raedle, CEO and Founder for Deer Isle, which has a launched the Deer Isle Bosera RMB Income fund. “Wouldn’t you want to invest in a market that is AA-rated, has the world’s second largest GDP (representing approximately one-third of all emerging market GDP), has accounted for about half of global GDP growth, represents the third-largest global bond market, represents the largest world’s trading nation with the second most used currency in global trade finance and has a sovereign default risk (per CDS) that is roughly the same as the US?”